follow in someone's footsteps vs imitate

follow in someone's footsteps

verb
  • To follow the same path as someone; to take actions similar to another's. 

imitate

verb
  • To follow as a model or a pattern; to make a copy, counterpart or semblance of. 

How often have the words follow in someone's footsteps and imitate occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )